HAUNTED: CHAPTER ONE
by Pashmina811
Summary: Hello, Lovelies!   I couldn't stay away for long! Seems, Spence is a thug. Hanna can't keep her hands off any male within reaching distance, Aria's relationship with Noel spirals and Killer? So, so desperate. Oh well, pretty girls are the best liars.   -A
1. Chapter 1

1

NOT AGAIN, SPENCE!

"Spencer! Clean up your mess in the kitchen, _now_!"

Veronica Hastings straightened her business jacket, examining herself in the house's hallway mirror. "Spencer!"

"Com-_ing_!" Spencer yelled back, walking down the stairs.

She started mumbling to herself, repeating how delusional her mother was and how she couldn't wait to get the hell out of Rosewood after senior year.

Spencer stepped into the Hastings's modern, yet chic kitchen, complete with stain-less steel appliances, sparkly tiled backsplash and funky pots and pans hanging on a rack overhead.

Mrs. Hastings stepped into the kitchen, pointing a finger at Spencer.

"Clean it good. I don't appreciate coming home to your laziness." she lectured. "And just because you're sick, doesn't mean you don't need to clean up after yourself." She stopped, then picked up again. "God, Spencer...get that mustard stain."

Spencer picked up the sponge by the farmhouse sink, squeezing hard until bubbly, soapy water seeped out onto the island. Angry.

"_Scrub_, Spencer." Mrs. Hastings yelled from her position in the hallway.

Spencer hated the way her mother pushed her around, fixing her clothes "just-so", over-doing her makeup to impress everyone and buying only Prada bags, because "everyone who's anyone owns a Prada, so why shouldn't I blend in?" God, she was annoying.

"Damn it." Spencer spat. The mustard stain wasn't coming off. She ducked under the sink to the cupboard, rummaging for the over-sized bottle of dish cleaner.

"Mom!" she called. "Where's the dish cleaner?"

No answer.

"Mom...?"

_Snap. _

Spencer whirled around to face the living room. She squinted, thinking anyone or anything was hiding outside the porch doors.

Suddenly, the front door swung open, welcoming in a chilly, unfriendly winter breeze.

"What the hell?" Spencer slowly went over to the hallway.

The door hung ajar, icy wind circling around her.

"Would it kill her to close the door?"

Spencer glanced outside, expecting to see her crude mother, ducking into her black Lexus. She didn't hear her mother go out the door. Or open the garage door. Or get into her car.

Or drive away.

But her mother wasn't in the driveway, in her Lexus, taping on her iPhone 5.

The driveway was empty.

The slight breeze turned into a gust of powerful, chilled wind, wrapping around Spencer like a snake does to its prey. Spencer wasn't about to be snake bait.

She grunted and closed the door, locking and bolting it. Mumbling, she returned to her job in the kitchen. She found the dish cleaner and began intensely scrubbing at the mustard stain on the counter. She'd figured she'd get a "day off" from family drama when she'd called herself off from school today. School was getting instense, almost unbearable as the winter months dragged on. She needed a break. If only the mustard sta-

_Snap. _

Spencer froze.

The only sound she heard was the whispering and gossiping winter wind, thrashing about outside. She hoped that was the only thing she'd heard.

Shrugging, Spencer went back to cleaning, digging deep to ditch the mustard. "Damn." she whispered.

_Crack. _

She winced, hoping that the sounds would go away. She ignored them, cleaning, scrubbing, taking her mind off of the sounds, of...everything.

_Snap. Crack. _

"Hell...no." Spencer said. "Noo."

Spencer stopped, focusing her blurred vision on the dark figure standing outside the porch doors. "...No...no."

The figure waved slowly, as if to say, _Hey, Spence, I'm back. _

"No..." Spencer felt light-headed.

Her breathing was getting heavier, the world seemed to be spinning.

"...Ali?"

The figure waved again as Spencer dropped the sponge.

_Beep. _

Her BlackBerry ringed, scaring the hell out of her.

"Not again." she said.

ONE NEW MESSAGE, it read.

Try as she might, Spencer couldn't resist:

**Hey, Spence! **

**Lovely to talk to you again. Listen, I'll make this short and sweet. But defintely not sweet. Saw that Mommy walked out on you, huh? Don't worry. She'll be back. And so, will, I. **

** - A**


	2. Chapter 2

2

A NEW MAN FOR HANNA?

"Hey, Hanna, it's me...Mike. Sorry I haven't been talking or calling or texting you in a while...I've just been trying to figure out our relationship...and where we stand. I..gotta go...but call me later? You don't have to. I want you to, though. Okay...bye."

_Beeeeeeep. _

Hanna's Palm beeped. A robot-like lady asked if she wanted to save the call or delete it and check for more messages.

_Beep. _

She deleted it.

Then she gently set her phone on her nightstand, wishing it would go away.

Mike had called her, leaving her tons and tons of voicemail. But she wasn't up to talking to him right now. Ever since there had been rumors that Mike was cheating on Hanna with Kate, her evil step-sister, Hanna just...let go. And letting go, she ignored Mike as much as possible. Which was hard.

Like when she would wait for him at the door of his 3rd period class so that they could walk to Chemistry together. Or binge on delicious, organic and not-gross lunches at Steam, the ''little cafe` around the corner" in the hall. Or even kiss/make-out/hug/show some kind of physical activity by everyone's lockers.

No, there was no more of that. Hanna had to be independent. Her own woman.

It'd been a while since she'd been on her own, to herself, not attached by the hip to her boyfriend. Perhaps it was a good thing...yeah.

Feeling perpelled, Hanna jumped off her swirly-patterned, white bed, throwing the silky covers off her body.

She reached for her phone again and stroked its smooth exterior. Not thinking, just typing, she sent a message to every boy on her contact list, inviting them to a super-cool party this Saturday at her house. Maybe she'd meet someone there.

Wait. What? All that talk about being an independent woman and now..this? Trying to find a new boyfriend?

Waddling over to her laptop on her antique desk, Hanna plopped down in a cool hand-chair she'd found in a thrift/furniture store with Aria.

Aria.

Even saying just her name made her think of Mike.

"God, stop it." she whispered to herself. "Just...stop."

There was no use in thinking about Mike.

That was partly the reason why she wasn't really talking to Aria at the moment, or any of her old friends for that matter.

Shaking her head, Hanna logged on Facebook, checking her profile page, notifications and messages.

Her old friends. Ali...

_You really are a loser, Hanna. Don't be stupid...you're even a loser now..._

The memory of Ali talking to Hanna like that was...implorable. But it wasn't anything new for Ali. She'd always been a bitch.

And even if Ali was alive, because Emily just revealed the secret that she'd left the door to the burning Poconos house open, just in case, so that Ali, not their Ali, could sneak out and stay alive, there wasn't anyway that'd she'd come back...right?

Unless she wanted to harass/stalk for Hanna and her old friends.

Nevermind. It was stupid to think like Emily, anyway. The only reason Em felt like that was because she had ''loved'' Ali. Ali was her ''crush''.

Hanna logged off Facebook and sat back in the hand-chair.

_Beep. _

One guy from her Algebra class, Hudson, texted her back:

**Hanna, **

**I'll definetly be there! Awesome! Can't wait!**

** -Hudson ;)**

Hanna smiled. Hudson had always had a crush on Hanna when they were in seventh grade. Maybe they could hook up; afterall, Hudson was more attractive nowadays. She recalled Ali saying Hudson "must be blind, because he can't see he's crushing on a cow with pimples".

God, why did everything Ali did _still _swarm her thoughts? It was _so _annoying. It was bad enough that A had practically ruined their lives...what if he/she came back?

_Beep. _

ONE NEW TEXT MESSAGE, her Palm read.

It was Spencer.

"Spencer?" Hanna questioned, glancing at her phone. Spence hadn't talked to her in forever. Why would she suddenly want to talk now?

Unless...

"No." Hanna whispered. "God, no."

She started to read Spencer's text:

**FWD:Aria MontgomeryFWD:Emily FieldsFWD:**

** GOT A NEW TEXT FROM A! ME-**

_Beep. _

A new text message interrupted Hanna reading Spencer's text.

ONE NEW TEXT MESSAGE: RESTRICTED, it read.

"No..no...no!" Hanna squealed with fear.

Of course, it was A:

**Hannakins!**

** It was nice that Hudson's going to your "party", huh? ...too bad he has a girlfriend... ..oops...**

**Did he forget to mention that to you? Oh and btw, I'm back...and badder than ever.**

** -A**


	3. Chapter 3

3

EMILY'S MET HER MATCH

Across town, downtown Rosewood, Emily Fields put her bike up against a dark tree and sat down on the frozen ground.

Technically, it wasn't riding weather, snow was still on the ground, but Emily's car needed repairs so she had to take her bike.

Emily gazed out at the iced, glistening lake before her, shining with the help of the sun, gently peeking through the clouds.

She took in a deep breath of fresh, cold air.

Suddenly, Emily's ringtone, Pocketful of Sunshine by Natasha Beddingfield went off, setting the peaceful winter scene off balance.

Groaning, she pulled it out of her Abercrombie & Fitch bag, turning the sound down.

It was a call.

Emily clicked the green CALL button and listened for the caller on the other end.

"Hello?"

"Emily!" It was her mother. "_Where_ are you?

"Um...at the park..why?" Shouldn't her mom be at work?

Her mother let out a deep, annoyed sigh. "Emily, I've been looking everywhere for you! Did you know how much you worried me? Did you? I was so terrified that something happened to you! You could be stalked again and that person could really kill you this time! God, Emily! Are you alright?"

She let it all out. Then, she breathed in again and was silent.

Why was her mother always worrying about her? It wasn't like she'd done something wrong that made her mom not want to trust her.

"Were you planning on telling me where you were going after school? Or were you just going to worry me and make me almost call the police searching for you? Huh?"

Emily was silent for a minute. "Mom, I'm fine. I'm at the park. By the lake. I always come here after school..you're just never home to see me at 3...because you're usually still at work. I come to the park everyday after school. It's nothing new." she explained. "I didn't think you were coming home early today."

Mrs. Fields was quiet. "Oh." she muttered. "Well, okay...in the future, I'll let you know when I'll be at home earlier than usual so that you can text me and say you're okay."

"Yeah..that'd be nice." Emily replied, rocking back and forth on her checkered Rocket Dogs. "I gotta go...but I'll see you when I get home, Mom."

"Oh okay, sweetie. That's fine. Go have fun...don't forget about practice tonight, though..okay? I love you."

Emily nodded. "Yeah, I won't forget..I love you, too, Mom."

"Okay, Em. Bye!" her mother cheerfully hung up.

"Bye.." Emily whispered even though the line went dead.

_Crack. _

Emily spun around, doing at double take as a strange girl walked towards her.

She had long, wavy blonde hair that hung perfectly at her shoulders, just above her boobs. Her lips were pink, wet and heart-shaped, her eyes a deep, powerful blue. Everything about her was perfect, from head-to-toe.

Her cute, floral sweater laid perfectly on her shimmery blouse. Her slightly ripped jeans hugged her curves in all the right places. And her sweet, fashionable Mary-Janes made her look innocent.

"Ali?" Emily sputtered, not believing her own words.

The girl raised an eyebrow and walked over to the other side of the tree. She gestured towards Emily's bike. "Is that bike yours?"

Emily nodded, afraid that if she spoke, she might choke on her words.

"Did you realize that you put your bike up against the oldest tree in Rosewood?"

The girl pointed to a gold-plated sign, which stated that the tree in front of them was the oldest tree in Rosewood, almost 200 years old, and that it was a local landmark.

"See?" the girl said. "Your bike's sitting on history."

Emily nodded, still mesmerized by this girl's familiar beauty. "Yeah.." she slurred.

"Sooo..." the girl started. "_Move _it!"

Emily jumped, surprised by this stranger's sudden rudeness.

She bent down and picked up her bike, settling it at her side, her hands on the handles bars.

"So, what did you say your name was?" she asked, curious.

The girl flipped a lock of golden hair over her shoulder. "I didn't. But it's Addison."

For a second, Emily choked on her air, thinking this girl said her name was Alison.

"I'm sorry," Emily said. "Did you say your name was Alison?"

"No." Addison said. "It's Addison."

"Oh."

Okay, so maybe when she saw the girl that looked just like Ali and had a name that sounded like Alison, she'd gotten a little exicted.

Maybe Emily was still not over old Ali, her Ali. But her Ali was Courtney. The real Ali was a maniac-crazy stuck up bitch who almost killed all of them.

Emily and her old friends, anyway. It was sad for the people she did kill, but at least she and her friends were still alive.

Still, though, she couldn't get the thought of poor blind Jenna Cavanaugh dead. It was too much to handle all at once. And Jenna's death was over a year ago.

"Um...hello?" Addison waved her manicured hand in front of Emily's zoned face. "You there? Seems like you were daydreaming a little."

Now the girl suddenly seemed friendly, like she wanted to open up to Emily all of a sudden.

"Oh!" Emily cried. She put her bike up against a bench and sat next to it. "Sorry, just thinking."

She didn't like this girl's two-faced attitude; totally supportive of a 200 year old tree with a bitchy tone one minute, kind of sweet wanting to get to know you better act the next.

Addison sat next to Emily. But Emily took out her phone, hoping if she looked like she was busy, Addison might get the message and go away.

But she didn't. Of course.

"You look familiar." Addison said. "Have we met before?"

Emily looked up from her phone. "No, I don't think so."

Addison began to study Emily's face, hair, body, everything. "I've seen you somewhere."

Oh great, Emily thought. She could practically hear herself saying it now, _Yes, you've seen me before because I'm one of the pretty little liars. Yep, that's me. Emily Fields. Pretty little liar. _

"Are you-

"Oh, I know!" Addison interupted. "Aren't you like, a Beautiful Tiny Liar or something?"

Really? A beautiful tiny liar? What was _that_?

"No." Emily said non-chalantly. Then she decided to just let it out. "I am a _pretty little _liar, though. Alison DiLaurentis was my best friend."

Addison's mouth hung agape. "Really?" she breathed. "Wow, that's so cool."

So cool? So _not_ cool. As far as Emily was concerned, the whole Ali incident was terrifying. Terrifying that Ali tried to kill them all, and terrifying that Ali had pretended to like/love Emily to get her to trust her.

Those were the moments that she felt the stupid-est.

"Um.." Emily started. "I wouldn't say that. Alison stalked me and my friends for over a year. Then she tried to kill us. She even made me think she loved me."

Whoa. Where had that come from?

Addison's shocking blue eyes widened. "You're a...lesbian?" she practically shouted.

She said the word like it was bacon and she was a vegetarian.

Emily reluctantly nodded.

"That's great!" Addison cried, seeming almost excited.

_That_ was the opposite of what she thought Addison would say.

"Why's that great?" Emily asked. She didn't want to sound redundant.

"It's great because _I'm_ a lesbian, too!" she squealed.

Then, right then and there, Addison hugged Emily tightly, Emily's eyeballs almost popping out of her head.

Emily definetly didn't see that coming. "Well, I-

She was about to say she had to go when Addison swooped in and planted a big kiss on Emily's surprised lips. Addison's lips were soft and tasted like Burt's Bees Pomergranate Oil Lip Balm. Then she got a whiff of Addison's minty Trident gum.

As they continued the kiss, Emily felt the gum _inside of her own mouth. _She had never shared gum with anyone while kissing, not Ben and certainly not Maya.

Then she thought, _Why _am _I kissing this random girl? _

Addison wrapped her arms around Emily's waist and they kissed deeper.

They finally broke away, both dazed and looking pleased.

"Whoa." Addison said. "_That _was intense, huh?"

Emily nodded.

Then Addison started talking again. "So what's your name? I didn't catch it."

Wow, Emily thought. You just made out with me and you don't even know my name.

"Emily." Emily said. "Nice to meet you."

She stuck out her hand and watched as Addison cheerfully took it and shook it warmly. Addison's hands smelled like vanilla soap.

Vanilla soap? Ali.

She couldn't think of Ali right now. Emily focused her mind on Addison and their intense make-out session.

"So, I have to go." Addison got up, taking her phone from her jean pocket. "Here." She handed Emily her phone and Emily gave her her Treo, so that they could exchange information.

"I'll text you later, okay?" Addison called as she walked away. "Maybe we can meet up sometime soon?"

Emily nodded, as excited as ever.

She looked up Addison in her contacts list.

Addison Mariann Dean 

Wait.

Addison had the same initials as Ali.

Alison Marie DiLaurentis.

That had to be some kind of sign, right?

_Beep. _

It was a text from Spencer:

**FWD:Aria MontgomeryFWD:Hanna MarinFWD:**

** GOT A NEW TEXT FROM A! ME-**

_Beep. _

A new message interrupted Emily.

ONE NEW MESSAGE:RESTRICTED, it said.

"No," Emily grimaced. "No!"

But she read it anyway:

**Killer, **

**A little desperate are we? Yeah, I could tell. Better watch out for yourself, though, Addison's a little how you say...devilish. Don't say I didn't warn you. Oh, did you hear? I'm back. **

**-A**


	4. Chapter 4

4

AND TO YOUR RIGHT, WE HAVE

NOEL'S WRECKED CHEVY

The wind blew something terrible as Aria Montgomery stared out her window, watching the flakes fall. She sipped her herbal green tea from the paint-splattered mug she'd made at a make-your-own pottery shoppe in downtown Rosewood.

She'd just recently had a fight with her mom, Ella, and was thinking about moving out for good. Maybe her dad and Meredith, her stepmom, might like the company.

Aria shrugged, thinking everything through.

Mike didn't care for her, since he still thought she and Hanna were friends, and since he broke up with her...it was awkward.

Ella didn't give a damn about her, either. She yelled at Aria all the time for the dumbest things.

At that moment, Aria realized she probably only had 1 good thing in her life right now.

Noel.

And at times, things weren't always perfect with him, either.

Perhaps he understood her better than anyone; her friends, her brother, even her own mother didn't understand her.

_Beep. _

"Ooh!" Aria squealed, almost giddy.

She rose from her spot on an antique leather chair and tumbled over to the table in the library where she'd left her Nokia hours ago.

ONE NEW TEXT MESSAGE FROM NOEL, it read.

**hey, wanna go to kmart? ill pick u up at 4 - noel **

Aria smiled warmly and texted him back that she would.

Grabbing a flowly long-sleeved shirt with lace, a pair of dark wash skinny jeans and her favorite chocolate brown ankle boots, Aria slipped into her closet and began dressing.

When done, she applied just the right touches of makeup, turbo-brushed her teeth and ran a brush through her long hair.

Out her door, she grabbed her Nokia and stuffed it into her back jean pocket, then she grabbed her favorite leather fleece jacket, because she knew her mother would say something to her about bringing a jacket.

She was half-way out the front door when someone reached out and grabbed her arm, pulling her back into the house.

"And just what do you think you're doing?" Ella Montgomery looked her daughter up and down. "Hmm?"

"Uh..um..." Aria stuttered. "Going out with Noel. He's picking me up so we can go to K-mart."

Ella gave her a disaproved look. "K-mart? What will you be doing _there_?"

Aria sighed. "Mom!" she said. "Please, we're just going to hang out, get some food..then he'll bring me home. It's not like we're going cliff-diving."

"Hmmph..." Ella started. "Fine. But he better have you back before dinner!" She started to walk back down the hall, towards the living room. "Okay?"

"Yes, mother!" Aria hollered as she slipped out the front door. She pulled on her jacket and checked her Nokia for the time.

It was 3:56.

"Noel should be here _any_ minute, now," she mumbled to herself, rocking back and forth on her boots' heels.

_Crack. _

Aria looked to her left, aware of any danger.

But an old tree with an innocent looking squirrel in it, stared back.

"Why am I worrying?" she asked herself. "A's dead."

_Snap. _

Aria looked again, this time both ways.

She thought she saw a dark figure standing across the street, by her neighbors' house.

"..Huh?" she whispered.

The figure looked female and her hair was long and blonde.

Aria's eyes widened as the figure stared back at her and waved, very, very, slowly.

"Ali?" Aria questioned.

No, she told herself, that was dumb.

Their Ali was dead and so was real Ali.

"Of course." Aria told herself a-matter-of-factly.

But the figure didn't go away.

It stood there, now, motionless. Just staring at Aria.

"Okay..." she said.

Maybe it'd be better if she waited inside, just until Noel got here. It was awfully cold.

But as she turned to duck back into the house, Noel pulled up into the driveway in his old Chevy truck.

Noel's parents, Mr. and Mrs. Kahn, had said Noel could have whatever kind of car he wanted. So, it was a big surprise when he came home one day driving what his dad called his "piece of shit Chevy".

But Aria thought it was cool. And vintage. Which made it more cool.

Noel parked the truck and jumped out, running towards Aria.

Before she could say hi or how are you or anything, Noel scooped her into his arms and carried her towards the car.

Aria squealed with delight as Noel placed her in the passenger seat and let her buckle her seat before gently shutting the door.

He ran around to his side of the truck, scrambling to get in.

As soon as he started the car, he turned to Aria and said, "I love you."

Aria blushed, feeling the heat rise to her cheeks. "I love you, too." she said.

She turned on the rusty old radio and on came a Ke$ha song. Aria giggled.

Noel backed out of the driveway, beeping the horn to a spying Ella in the window. Then, at a red light of course, he moved closer to Aria on the old picnic table seat cushions in the truck and kissed her softly.

His lips tasted like ginger ale and snow. Aria smiled. _De-licious. _

"So," Aria said, snuggling into her seat. "We're going to Kmart?"

Truthfully, she hadn't been there in forever, not since she was 5 and bought little squishy toys from those toy machines they had at the checkout lines.

"Yeah. It's not a romantic date per` se`, but it's a date. And I have a surprise planned." He grinned, showing off a mouthfull of glistening, white pearls.

"Okay!" Aria tried to sound cheerful, but she couldn't help but wonder what he'd plan for ''romantic-ness" to take place at a Kmart.

Noel pulled into the right lane, picking up speed as he drove.

They passed the speed limit sign, which said the speed limit was 55. Aria checked Noel's speed, just for something to do, noting that it was 75.

"Um?" Aria started. She turned down the radio so she could be heard. "Aren't we going a little fast?"

Noel looked out his rear-view mirror. "Sorry, babe. " he said. "This asshole's riding me."

Aria looked behind her out the window, noticing at large modern Ford truck driving very, extremely close to Noel's Chevy's bumper.

"Jerk." Aria said.

"Yeah!" Noel agreed, stepping on the brake.

He turned to Aria. "I go a little slower every minute just to bug his ass. He doesn't seem to like it too much!"

Aria half-smiled as if to say, _Okay, honey, just get me to Kmart alive, please!_

And she hoped that's what would happen.

"Maybe you should pull over into the other lane." Aria suggested.

"No, no." Noel said, hands gripped tightly on the wheel. "He'll have to move his ass first."

Aria sighed. It was useless. All she could do was pray they got to Kmart safely.

She turned around to look at the jackass, who was still riding Noel's bumper.

"That's nice!" she cried. "He's texting now."

She turned back around, shaking her head.

The light ahead turned red.

"Shit." Noel muttered, going slow, about to stop.

He stopped at the light. Whew. They were safe.

But bumper-rider didn't stop. He just kept texting, his foot firmly on the gas.

"Noel!" Aria said. "Pull over! Now!"

"Why? It's a red light."

"Just pull over! That guy's not stopping!"

_Beep. _

ONE NEW TEXT MESSAGE, Aria's Nokia read.

It was from Spencer.

**FWD:Emily FieldsFWD:Hanna MarinFWD:**

** GOT A NEW TEXT FROM A! ME-**

Aria screamed, Noel tried to pull over; but it had been too late.

Jack-ass slammed into the side of the Chevy, which smashed the car in front of it, then that car and the next car.

When it was all said and done, Aria opened her eyes to find herself out onto the middle of the street, surrounding by shards of glass. Sticky, red blood stuck in her hair.

Noel was curled into a ball next to her. His eyes closed.

She crawled over to him, pain aching her body. "Noel?" she whispered. "Noel?"

Swarms of people crowded around the beaten up and wrecked cars, 4 of them in all, and Mr. Jack-Ass tumbled over to Aria.

"Hey!" he snapped. "Tell your boyfriend to watch himself!"

"Get the fuck out of my face!" Aria screamed at him.

He backed off. Aria went and pressed her nose to Noel's nose.

"Noel?" she tried again.

No answer.

"Noel!" she screamed in his ear.

Aria started to cry salty tears as someone called 911. An ambulane showed up, making the street even more crowded, with the police men directing traffic and everyone yelling, asking what was going on.

The EMTs put Noel on a gerny and wheeled him into the back of the ambulance. A man asked Aria if she wanted to go, too, maybe get treatment for her head, but she said no.

She called her mom, explaining what happened through tears, waiting for her to her up. All of it was so terrible.

She started to cry again, walking away from the drama and sitting on the sidewalk.

_Beep. _

"Who the hell could this be?" she asked her Nokia.

ONE NEW MESSAGE FROM: RESTRICTED, it read.

Aria's eyes widened for the second time that day.

"No." she said. "It couldn't be."

But it was:

**Aria, **

**Too bad your guy's truck crashed, huh? Maybe he should've paid more attention to you. 'Cause that's how you lose your bf's, sweetie, you treat them like shit. But hey, accidents happen.**

**-A**


	5. Chapter 5

5

WATCH YOUR BACK, LADIES

Spencer grabbed the History, Algebra II and Chemistry books off her handmade wooden desk and stuffed them into her Kate Spade bag.

"Mom!" she called downstairs. "I need money!"

She took a Burt's Bees tube of chap stick, popped off the cap and smothered it onto her lips. She puckered her lips in her closet mirror.

"Mom!"

"What?" her mother snapped from downstairs.

"I need money!" Spencer slipped the bag onto her shoulder and checked her eye makeup in a hand mirror.

"For _what_?"

Spencer groaned and rolled her eyes, fixing her hair. "For lunch today. I don't have any money left in my account."

She heard her mother flopping up the stairs in her J. Crew heels.

"Spencer." she said when she arrived in Spencer's bedroom doorway. "If you need money for lunch, you should've told me last night, so I could write a check out for you. Now I have to go back downstairs and..."

Her voice carried as she went from Spencer's doorway, down the stairs and back into the kitchen where she had her own private office for God knows what.

"...write a check...sign it." she continued, back up the stairs in a hurry. "I'm not made of money, Spencer. I know it may seem like it, since we have nice things, but we're really not that rich."

Spencer turned around, adjusting the braided headband on her head. She rolled her eyes, slipping on her bright red peacoat with the hood.

"Here." Veronica Hastings handed her daughter the check and turned, stomping back down the stairs angrily.

Spencer shoved the check into the back pocket of her Forever 21 jeans and put her BlackBerry into her bag.

"Spencer! Hurry up! You'll be late for school if you don't leave now!" her mother yelled up the stairs.

"Okay!"

Spencer slipped down the stairs, out the door and into her silver Mercedes Benz. Buckling her seat belt, she put the key into the ignition.

"Shit." she said as she dropped her BlackBerry. She bent down to get it, bumping her head on the steering wheel.

Her aqua nails grasped her phone, which sat next to a crumply piece of paper by her gray Ugg boot.

"What the-?" she started.

Spencer picked up the paper, uncrumbled it, smoothing it out.

Suddenly, she gasped.

She read the note aloud:

**" PRETTY RED RIDING HOOD, HUH, SPENCE? SWEET, BUT ONLY IF YOU WERE..." **

Shaking her head, she pulled out of the driveway, trying to stay calm.

She crumbled the piece of paper up again and threw it into the back seat.

"Fuck it." she whispered.

She stopped at a red light, checking her Facebook profile on her BlackBerry.

_Beep. _

It was from Emily.

**Spence, **

**Noel's in the hospital, Aria isn't coming to school 2day. Hanna & ill b the hospital, 2, u should come! **

**- Em**

Spencer texted her back, saying she'd be there.

Then she called the school's secretary, saying she'd be in after 12.

Spencer stopped at Starbuck's on the way to the hospital, buying her friends and herself, their favorite drinks.

She hummed a tune on the way to the hospital, trying to entertain herself.

When she pulled into the hospital parking lot, she parked and found Noel's floor.

She was greeted by Hanna and Emily, who sipped their frappucinos as they took Spencer to the room.

"So...what happened?" Spencer asked as she sat in a lumpy chair by the window. Noel tried to sit up in bed, fully aware, even though Emily explained that he had barely been awake when she and Hanna got there.

"This jackass was riding my bumper, and I..." Noel's words were a little slurred.

Aria sat on the side of the bed and put a hand over Noel's shoulder.

"And he tried to get into the left lane, while we were at the red light. But the asshole kept driving, didn't stop and slammed into our truck which made us slam into another car and then another car. It was TERRIBLE." Aria explained.

"Yeahh..." Noel sipped orange juice from a straw. "And Aria bruised her head, it was bleeding pretty bad."

He kissed her on the cheek. Aria blushed.

"I was so scared. There was glass and blood everywhere, he was passed out. Then the jackass that started the accident came over and told me to tell my boyfriend to watch himself. I yelled at him. What an ass."

Noel looked up at her. "He _yelled _at you?" he asked. Aria nodded. "I'll kick his ass."

Aria blushed again.

"That must've been horrifying," Hanna said. "I don't know what I'd do if you guys didn't make it."

She looked teary-eyed. "Yeah," Emily agreed. "I feel the same way."

Spencer agreed, too.

"Um..can you excuse us for a second, Noel?" Aria said. Noel nodded and Aria grabbed her old friends' hands, leading them into the hallway.

"Is something wrong?" Hanna asked, fiddling with her hair.

"Yeah, are you okay?" Emily said.

"I'm fine, you guys." Aria replied. "It's just, right before the crash, I got your text Spence, about getting a new text from A."

She took out her Nokia.

"Then I got this text from a restricted number." she said.

Hanna, Emily and Spencer crowded around Aria as she showed them the text.

**Aria, **

**Too bad your guy's truck crashed, huh? Maybe he should've paid more attention to you. 'Cause that's how you lose your bf's, sweetie, you treat them like shit. But hey, accidents happen.**

**-A**

Hanna's eyes widened.

Emily gasped.

Spencer shook her head.

"No matter who A is," Spencer concluded. "She or he is a bitch. I bet they had something to do with that crash, Aria."

The other girls agreed.

"I hope..." Emily started. "I hope that A just goes away."

Everyone else agreed again.

Suddenly, Emily's Treo chimed. Hanna's Palm beeped. Aria's Nokia sung a sunny tune. Spencer's BlackBerry rang.

Each girl picked up their phone, pressing READ.

They couldn't resist to read that one, irresistible text:

**Ladies! Great to have you all together again! Just like old times, huh? Not really. And btw, I'm never going away...ever. -A**

They all looked up from their phones, each one wide-eyed.

"You guys," Spencer said. "A planned that car crash."


End file.
